Return To Ones Home
by mycatsapanther
Summary: After disappearing for many years after a storm Berk believed him to be dead but he shows up out of no where a completely different person, physically and emotionally. He won't tell anyone what happened to him or why he didn't come back, but one fateful day Astrid sees him training in the forest and sees something that explains why he keeps his past in a shroud of darkness.
1. Prologe

Return To One's Home

Prologue

Three months, that is how long till it was Hiccups 16th birthday, but a huge storm took him away before that could happen. Gobber, Stoick, and Astrid had planned what was going to be the biggest celebration in Berks history, and it was all for Hiccup. The party was going to have dragon races, skill based games, strength based games, alcoholic drinks, imported food, and much more. Every man, woman and child was looking forward to the party. Most wanted to celebrate Hiccup's coming of age but some only wanted to go for all the extravagant items that would have been there. This party was a birthday party as well as a coming of age party that would mark Hiccup the marriageable age and he would be able to look for a woman to marry. The woman Hiccup chose he would have to marry then this woman would have bore a child to the heir of the chiefdom of Berk. Everyone already knew who Hiccup would have picked to be his wife, and so did she. The woman he would have taken to be his wife was a girl that every young man on Berk would court if they had been given the chance. This girls name is Astrid Hofferson and everyone on and even some off the island knew that she was being courted by Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the Third , son to the chief of Berk.

None of that ever happened, not the games, dragon races, not the food or drink. All because one longful night where Hiccup had taken a night flight with Toothless and disappeared when a terrible storm appeared out of nowhere. The storms force was so terrible that it ripped tree's out of the ground and houses off of their foundations. Stoic had to gather all the men, women and children together in the great hall for protection against the strong winds. While he was gathering the people he had to battle the rain hitting his skin like flying ice shards and talking over defining thunder, but in his search for people he never could find his one and only son. When the storm ended some villagers said that it was a message for the gods that they had done something wrong or they had upset them. But whether that message was anger or grief because of something man had done they didn't know for sure. The days following the storm Stoic had to focus on rebuilding his village instead of finding the last piece of his broken family, but as soon as the village was livable again he launched a full scale search part for his son. After four months of searching every known island in the barbaric archipelago and finding no trace of Hiccup. Most accepted that he had died in that storm, but some thought that Hiccup might be alive on some forgotten island. They believed this even though it is a very unpopular opinion.

Most who believed that he was dead just accepted that it would be impossible to survive in a storm like that one but some who believed it just didn't want to think about the soon to be man who saved them all and made berk a better place to live. The thought of Hiccup reminded them of a time when life was better, the war had ended, peace, knowledge, and understanding were starting to take its place in their life all because of a single boy who never gave up. But that boy was lost.

Even being a chief has its limits, and when people started to truly believe that Hiccup was dead his want to restore his family was shattered into thousands of tiny unfathomable pieces. Once people started to think that Hiccup was dead they stopped showing up for the search parties. Since the few who still thought the boy to be alive couldn't search for hiccup on there own they was forced to stop searching after almost a year but despite all their inability to search for Hiccup none of them ever gave up hope that he might still be alive.

It's been just over five years since the disappearance of Berks best and brightest in that gods forsaken storm and all of Berk suffered from it. Most of the dragons have left the island some because of the stress of repeated attacks by the outcasts and Berserkers, but most because of old hostilities from the war opening up. Without Hiccup there to manage the emotion on both sides from a 300 year war that had only ended a year before everything went to hell. Most villagers still didn't attack unprovoked though, he had been successful in proving that the dragons don't attack unprovoked so there were very little injuries in the fights that did break out between the dragons and Vikings. The only ones in the village that were tolerated to have dragons around were Astrid, Fishlegs, Snotlout, and the twins Ruffnut and Tuffnut. Astrid has a Deadly Nadder, Stormfly", Fishlegs has Gronckle "Meatlug", Snotlout has a Monstrous Nightmare "Hookfang". The twins Ruffnut and Tuffnut share a Hideous Zippleback "Barf and Belch".

After Hiccups disappearance Stoick chose Astrid for the responsibility taking over the dragon training academy for many reasons, like her ability to maintain order among the five friends and there dragons. She was also chosen, by Stoick, because of her skill, quick thinking, and leadership abilities. When Berk started to get attacked on a regular basis by different enemy forces for what they had done with the dragons it forced Astrid to change what her and her friends did with the dragons. It became the dragon protectorate, a place where the riders would protect Berk with all their resources, skills and their life if necessary. Though they didn't have many members just the five of them they were still able to protect against all forces the wished to do them harm.

With Berk having so many enemies it forced many back into the warrior life that they were brought into and children because of the dragon war. One of the most notable of these people is Astrid. She became a fierce and rigid character to maintain order in their community. Out of the few that still believed Hiccup was still alive Astrid was among them, mostly because that if something did happen to Hiccup and Toothless she would feel it in her soul that something was gone that couldn't be replaced. That's what she truly believed, but when people would occasionally ask her why she told them that if those two were flying and something happened, Toothless would have made sure to take the brunt of the impact and if he needed to die for Hiccup, he would have. At least that's what she told people that asked her why she believed he was still alive. It was really because her heart wouldn't let her accept that he died in the horrific storm. She loved Hiccup for so long and she couldn't just let him go without a fight, that's just not who she was. Astrid loved him for many reasons like his kindness and warmth, that mitigated all the anger she felt, his intelligence and sarcasm, that would always make her laugh and smile, or the he way looked at the world so full of hope that just spread to the people around him, and that warmed her heart. She never told him how she truly felt though and for that she will be eternally regretful and if she ever saw him again she was not going to make that mistake again.

Stoic was never the same after that fateful storm that took his only son and last bit of his family away. Some days villagers would walk by there ageing chief and see him gazing at the horizon with heavy eyes that wished and pleaded for something. Anyone who saw him knew what that something was because they wanted him back too. All Stoic wanted though was to see his son, to hold his son and tell him how much he loved the boy. No one ever disturbed the chief when he was like this, it was like an unspoken rule not to talk about Hiccup near, or to, the chief as to not upset him. Stoick acted completely different after Hiccups loss, now he walked slower and talked with a heavy heart. His shoulders slumped as if he didn't know why he got up in the morning. Over the years the hair on his head and face had aged un proportional to his body, now his beard was mostly gray and his hair had started to raseed. The way he dealt with problems around the village was different to, before he would have people talk it out in a fairly diplomatic way but now if it wasn't a important matter he would usually force a resolve between the arguing parties, and this had started to fracture the integrity of the villages stance towards each other.

More than a few people got truly life affected and changed by Hiccups supposed death, one of these people was Gobber, Hiccup's friend and mentor. He taught Hiccup how to use the forge to craft things from crossbow parts, swords to nails. He thought Hiccup how to sew leather together, and how machines worked. When Hiccup was around Gobber was a funnyish sarcastic character that had a insult ready for every occasion but now the only time when he was like that was when he was extremely drunk. In many ways Gobber felt like a second father to Hiccup and had hoped to see Hiccup do many things like improve in areas like fighting, forging and dragon training, but what he wanted more then anything was see this young man, who was like a son to him, find love get married and have children. That never happened though because the gods had taken that away from him and Stoic. Gobber took another apprentice at the forge two years agter Hiccup vanished much to his protest but it was something that the village needed so he accepted . With the attacks and weather he needed someone to help him with the everyday things like sharpening weapons, and making small things that are extremely mondain. The blacksmiths new apprentices name is Iver Olin and he started at the forge at the age of nine, the boy was well built but short he had proportionate arms and legs with a head of black hair. Gobber trained him hard for months before the kid was even able to pick up the thing he would be working with for the rest of his life. It took almost a year of training before Gobber ler Iver sharpen his first sword and even more time before he let him do it for a customer. Iver was never allowed into the room in the back of the forge. The room was strictly off limits to Iver because it was the last sacred untouched place of Hiccups Gobber had left.


	2. Chapter 1

Return to ones home

Chapter 1

With Hiccup gone, the Dragon's gone and Berk making lots of enemies with villages that still opposed the progress they had made with the dragons, many people had to learn how to fight to protect their homes from these new enemies. It wasn't like It was with the dragons because they were only after food and nothing else but now they face multiple enemies. The two most prominent being the Outcasts, led by Alvin, and the Berserkers, led by Dagur. They would and could destroy everything they have, crush their homes, kill their families and ignite their island in flames if the villagers didn't stop them.

As a result of their enemies Astrid had to become a fierce warrior one whose presence demanded fear and respect from all around her. A result of her intense training was that she had become as beautiful as a Valkyrie with a body every man in the world would lust after. Astrid cloths reflected that about her. Now Astrid wore a tight red tunic that flowed with the curves of her torso. Moving over the outcrop of her womanly hips are a spiked leather skirt, with skulls sewed onto the waist line. Strapped to the small of her back was a large but hidden knife.

Her long legs are covered with a pair of dark blue leggings and her feet covered with thick fur boots which almost touched her knees. On her shoulders sat a set of spiked metal shoulder pads and leather hood, with fur trimming, fastened between them. Further down her arms there's a pair of leather arm guards that also acted as arm warmers. Between where the arm guards stopped, at her elbow, and where her shoulder pads started is just smooth open skin. Slung over her left shoulder is her golden blond hair braided in complicated weaves and loops. Astrid's face showed off a smooth but defined jaw line, Her pink lips soft against her creamy white skin. The only blemish that's visible on her face was a long cut right above her right eyebrow.

The tip of her nose was rounded at its peak giving it small appearance in proportion to her head, and on either side of her nose lay a pair piercing blue eyes. Added up she was the most beautiful woman Berk had ever had the pleasure of laying there eyes upon. Most of her bodys definition was a result of her training but nonetheless her beauty and fighting skill, made men all around the village and the few friendly islands try and get her attention and affection. when there efforts inevitably failed some of them tried to get her mother to sign a marriage contract between them and her and, much to Astrid's pleasure, was always unsuccessful.

Astrid's mother, Ingrid Hofferson, is in her early 40s and loved what was left of her family that being Astrid & Astrid's six year old brother Avex. She lost the husband and father to her two children during the battle with the Red Death. When the survivors got back they told her what had become of him, they told her that he'd been assigned as a deckhand aboard one of the ships Stoic took with him to the Dragon's nest. but lost his life when he wasn't able to able to escape the ship that had been set on fire by the Red Death's fiery breath. This loss made her hold onto her remaining family , that being her children that she loved with every fiber of her being. Astrid is her only daughter and she didn't want her to be married off like some farm animal like she was when she was but a girl so she let Astrid choose her own path. The path of the Shield maiden is what Astrid had chosen, its a life without love or children. Ingrid didn't agree with the choice of her child but let her be what she wanted to be and encouraged her on her path. She had secretly wished that a boy would come along and steal her heart and her wish was granted when the Chief's son Hiccup changed berk and stole Astrid's heart by showing her the freedom of flight, the goodness of dragons, and the kindness in his heart. That was all lost though when the storm came to berk and this dream of hers was blown away, but she still had a flicker of hope that another boy would come along and the two, Astrid and the boy, would fall in love. All this is why Ingrid didn't want her only daughter to marry with a heart of hate for the other person but a heart full peace, love and desire.

-O0O-

Astrid liked walking in the forest it always gave her a sense of peace with the world. Before Hiccup disappeared he had had the chance to show her how he looked at the world, so full of curiosity and the elegance in which everything worked together. In this time she had with Hiccup she started to learn how to look at the world the same way.

Astrid is on her way to the cove so she can finally get some peace and quiet from all the daily shenanigans she had to endure from Snotlout and the Twins throughout the day. Those three always found a new and creative way to irritate her, and the cove was her place to escape. To her the cove was a sacred place. This was the place where a bond like no other was formed, a bond that would change a young man and eventually all of Berk forever. Whenever she arrived at the cove she could always feel Hiccups heart and soul emanating from the very dirt and rock that surrounded her. She could feel his happiness from when he was with Toothless. When he was here hiding Toothless from the village he let his stress and hate float away. Now she was the one letting her stress go when she was hiding here. This is a place to let all your anger, anxiety, sadness, and stress all release into the vast woods surrounding it.

Deep down in a place she has never sheared with a single person, a place where all her hopes and dream lay hidden from the world, she had a wish that one day she would walk into the cove like usual day and he would be standing there right next to the rock which she sat on many years ago trying to find out what Hiccup was up to in dragon training and he'd be waiting for her to find him, but that was a fantasy. She knew what it was but that didn't stop her from dreaming. When she spends the night at the Cove she always had a dream about him. Most of these dreams are pleasant ones and some are even romantic.

One time she had dreamt that she was training with her axe in a clearing deep in the forest, once she had gotten tired she went to relax. she put her axe down, untied her hair put her head band on a rock on the edge of the clearing and laid down in the tall grass. What she didn't expect is that when she got up to get her things the headband had been braided with the most beautiful and colorful flowers on the island. They were weaved with the skill of an engineer and touch of an artist. A note lying next the headband read "For you milady" with Hiccups trademarked triple H signature. Whenever she thought about this it made her heart burn with passion for Hiccup and made her wish it had actually happened.

On rare occasions she has nightmares about him that would make any man no matter the strength cringe in pain for him. When she has a nightmare it always wakes her up screaming or crying out for him trying to relive the pain she saw him in. But one of these dreams One night several months after Hiccups disappearance in the storm she had a terrible nightmare. In it she saw Hiccup in a dark room chained to a wall, cloth covering cuts that went all up and down his torso. some of them were new but she could see old ones that had been sealed with his own blood, his face looked battered and bruised like he had been repeatedly punched with massive force but his eyes is what got her the most. They looked lost in pain but below that they looked more hopeless than all the years he had been tormented on berk by everyone that viewed him as a mistake. She heard him whispering to the shadows with a raspy voice that had been screamed out of existence over days and weeks of torture. What she could make out of his dry mumbling are words that still haunt her.

To clear her mind of the night mare she Shook her head from side to side then looked straight again. She didn't like to think about the bad dreams they always left her distant, confused and angry. In all of them she was just an observer, she couldn't do anything to help Hiccup or the ones that died around him. She was just always there seeing his pain, his wiles of sadness, but she couldn't run and hug him or comfort him no matter how hard she tried.

Her feet guided her into the Cove purely on instinct because she had been there so many times that she knew where ever rock, hill and pebble was located. Like always she placed her axe down, leaning on the steep rock walls next to the entrance to the cove, and strolled lightly through the grass taking in every sound she herd. There's a birds high pitched chirping to draw in a mate, theres a cawing sound coming from a group of Crows. A soft breeze made it way into the cove and brushed up against Astrid while she slowly paced around the lake to a soft patch of grass where she would lay down and watch the clouds.

In the hours she lay there in the cove in the grass watching the clouds she saw many shapes that resembled both land and sea animals, or land features like trees, and houses. this was her favorite thing to do when on the ground, just watch the sky like she did when she was a child in the late afternoon days. She had stopped doing this when she decided to be a shieldmaiden, to become the strongest of them all. She wanted to be treated like an equal to men and her parents wanted that for her as much as she did so they supported her and helped train her.

Her plan worked too, all the men, except Snotlout, treated her as an equal or superior, she had become stronger than most and more skilled. no one in the village could beat her at hand to hand combat, axe throwing or sword dueling.

Snotlout was still an egotistical ass that she always had trouble not killing but she couldn't do that for two reasons. One: because he was chosen as the next Hair to the chiefdom of berk,and Two: because he was not an enemy no matter how annoying he got.

Snotlout never missed a moment to shove that in peoples faces but his blood is in the Haddock line so there wasn't much she could do about it. When most villagers got drunk enough and the subject of Snotlout came up they would say there true feelings about his ascension to Heir of Berk. It's always negative thing when they talk about him, "He's too short", "That Snotlout boy needs to learn how to learn", " One of these days that ego of his is going to get him hurt or in serious trouble." Some of it was said in front of Snotlout but he didn't listen, all he did was continue to boast about his mighty greatness.

She liked to imagine what Hiccup looked like before the storm. His face just starting to mature, and loosing its baby fat. His jaw becoming a prominent feature in his physical appearance. He had also started to shed away all the years of torment they had put him through and started believing in his own abilities. On occasion she wondered what Hiccup would look like now had he not disappeared in a storm that ravaged berk and its surrounding islands. Astrid would imagine him with long slender legs and a tall torso, but he was still quite thin and small compared with other Vikings.

Other times she would think of him as filling out quite nicely,long thick legs made of pure muscle a nicely shaped torso that held his extremely tall body upright with broad shoulders that screamed power and authority. His face was always a mystery to her she never knew how to imagine what someone would look like but what she could imagine was always a face with strong features but above all eyes that had kindness for all thing living.

"Because he when i looked at him i saw myself" this rang through her head when ever she say him help a wounded animal or a person that was having trouble. Because he went through so much suffering he could connect with them and understand their problems then help resolve said person's problem. Berk didn't have very many people like that anymore it was almost a land of kill or be killed and the only thing still holding them together wasn't trust or loyalty but a need to be together as one to stand against their enemies. "Uhhhhh" Astrid sighed to the wind " Berk needs help Hiccup, and you're the one that need to bring our world back into a proper balance so im asking to anyone that's listening to help bring Him home because Berk needs him... i need him" she said to the sky as if to ask the gods, pleadingly, for an intervention to help their troublesome affairs.

I wanted to get this chapter out so its not as long as i wanted it to be. So far this story is really great, in my mind, and has a lot of potential if i do it right. I wanted to give a shout out to the story The Town A Few Degrees South of the Freezing Death i used an idea from her story but changed it up some so its not completely coping i would recommend that you read the story it's super romantic. Also huge thanks to I Am The Brovahkiin for helping me write parts of this and giving me advice you should also go and read his story The Boy Behind The Mask. This is one of my all time favorite stories i've read about How To Train Your Dragon.

I have the plot line of the story written down but to make this a long story with characters you feel for you need some fluff in it. I have some ideas planned out but not enough for the entire story, so please leave a review with your fluf ideas. If i like it i will send you a PM telling you that i will be using it in some way.

If you want to see pictures on the story that my friends and i will be drawing i made a twitter account. This is for people that want to see stuff on the story, get teasers on it, questions for me, and updates on when the next chapter will be out. I want to be an active write, that meaning that i interact with those who follow me and make the How To Train Your Dragon Fanfictions better, and more flushed out. the links to my new Twitter is right below so feel free to join.

" Return To Ones Home mycatsapanther" 

link: /mycatsapanther


	3. Chapter 2

**I have been absent for the past four months and it was because i lost sight on what i wanted to do with this story. I am happy to say that i now have that vision back. I cannot say that i can upload on a regular basis because i just started my JR year of high school and i have a lot of homework. But i will try my best to get at least a chapter a month out they will all be more than 3000 words and edited so it takes time to write them. I really hope you all love this chapter as much as i do so without further ado**

Return To One's Home

Chapter 2

A few hundred miles away from Berk two black dots stood atop a large cliff overlooking a misty valley of thick woods, one being a man the other a large black dragon. The man's figure stood at six foot, and was clad almost entirely in a light leather armor, most colored black but some of the trim is a deep brown. A spiked mask covers the face of this individual, and the only thing visible of the face behind the mask was through the mask's eye holes. These eye showed nothing, a absolute blankness to the world. along the bottom edges of the mask the tips of auburn hair are visible against his lightly tanned neck. Held behind his head are a pair of sheathed double short swords with a curved edges. The sheathes are with have a plain pattern and its colors are only a rich red along where the blades edge is and the rest black. The sword's hilt and handle was so delicately crafted so precise that the curves, bends, and shapes must have been carved over a lifetime, it looked like it was the kind of oriental sword you give a bride's family and a bridal gift, but had a much stronger air to it like it was used for battle.

On his right shoulder lay a the face of the offspring of lightning and death itself, a Night Fury sown in red red leather, with a background of black leather on a metal shoulder pad that's half the length of his upper arm. The opposite shoulder had a smaller shoulder pad that's only half the size on the right. Inscribed on the black there on the left shoulder pad with a different insignia, in a different color of leather, it's a Night Fury this time curled up around itself illuminating a blue color. From under the shoulder pads a padded brown leather went the the elbows where it was replaced with a black armor again, its outside edge went past the elbow into a slight spike. Strapped to his right arm are six throwing knives with similar blade and handle designs as swords, on the left was a single ten inch knife strapped to the top of the right forearm armor. A pair of black gloves covers his hands in order to protect them while flying at high altitudes where it was extremely cold. Crossing his chest plate and over his heart was, was a thick strap with a metal ring to clip things to.

The man's mid torso has been armored with a different color leather with a different thickness. The letter was a dark brown instead of black but had a pattern carved into it, it looked somewhat like scales from afar. Two straps crossed over his stomach five inches apart from each other, these were not for armor purposes but to hold this part of leather flush with his body. On both sides of his body the light leather Armour stretched down to the mid thigh, it didn't do this in the front so it gave a upside down U design.

His legs are covered with black pants that have various loops and items attached to it. On both sides of his body on the thigh are a pair of metal rods, one end looking like a dragons mouth the other end a ball with a hole in the middle. These rods have four buttons, two in near the top and two near the bottom, both sets with their purposes.

His right foot is covered by a thick animal fur boot dyed black, but his left leg was and replaced with a prosthetic unlike anyone had seen before, it had parts made of a metal that looked stronger and brighter than the best iron anyone could get. This metal made the small rotating and moving parts that worked together like clockwork. The prosthetic stopped halfway up the to the knee, and was replaced with the black of his pants.

The sleek dragon to the right of the man was sitting on its hind legs and its size made the man look small in comparison, when sitting his head was greatly taller than six feet. His bright green eyes looking over the valley beneath them without a look of wonder to the beauty it portrayed with its hills covered in dark green vegetation, high cliffs, and water reflecting the warm summer light, he looked without anything toward it.

A line of small short spikes came up through the middle of the skull then the single row traveled backward to the back of the head. At the back of the head are four frill type things. On either side of the dragon's head where the ears should be located are two of the frills. The other two frills are coming off the back of his head right where the spikes end, and look like they serve no purpose other than making him more aerodynamic or streamlined.

The neck is covered with a leather and hide saddle to help while flying. A pair of large wings folded up close to his body. More spikes started between the shoulder blades where, and traveled to a point where a second pair of smaller control wings are placed. Starting behind those on each side of toothless's tail are more spikes that lead down to to his two tail fins. His two tail fins are different colors, the right one is a extremely dark purple that matches the rest of the body, while the left tail fin is a slightly lighter shade of purple. The left is also a slightly different design then the right because it has been replaced with a prosthetic fin so that the dragon can fly.

-O0O-

After surveying the environment in front of him and his dragon the man took his helmet off, it was obvious that his face had matured over the years, the baby fat that once made his face round had been replaced with a firm square jaw line, lined with hair. A Rounded nose and even more vibrant green in his eyes then when he was younger. there was a scare on the right side of his face from his mid ear to his lip. His auburn hair was significantly longer because years of not being cut or trimmed due to him traveling a lot. His face was stern and hard it was clear that it had weathered many things.

He had been near the archipelago for several months making sure no one followed him from down south. In his time gone he had traveled south to southern countries like The Roman Empire, Egypt, France, Greece, and great Britain. Most of these places were long forgotten in the barbaric archipelago due to the almost impenetrable wall of fog. But these places being long forgotten didn't mean they were any less dangerous. Most of the countries he visited were nice to him or thought him to be a messenger from the heavens but some did not see him like that, all they saw was a man on a dragon and a way to become even more powerful. These powerful people tried to get him and the secret he held, especially the Romans, but he never wavered in keeping dragon training a secret. Along his journeys he met some Romans weren't bad but most of them are. The ones that are wanted the knowledge of training dragons were the bad ones because they tried everything to get him to talk, he knew what they were going to use the dragons for, war, so he never told a soul for fear that it would only lead to death. One or two people tried to win him over so he would tell them the Dragon Training secret but no matter how much they used the carrot he never told. The only people that know how to train dragons are on the island that he was born on, Berk.

With all kinds of people after him he had to make sure no one had followed him back to his homeland, because that would be disastrous for anyone living there. In the meantime while he waited to see if one of his enemies had managed to followed him he has been mentally preparing himself for when he arrives at his home. How were they gonna react to seeing him again. but now he was on his way back through the fog barrier.

If you had seen the two of them not an hour before you would have seen them racing across the ocean's surface at an unthinkable speed, it was so fast that powerful wind came streaming off of them so strong it made waves behind them. The two liked to travel fast it always made the world seem small, because to them being able to fly several hundred miles in a day is exhilarating, they could go so fast that they could make it to the coast of Europe in two days if they only took short breaks to sleep and eat, and that was a huge feat to anyone without a Dragon or a Night Fury.

With the cooling day sun starting to touch the horizon it was time for Hiccup and Toothless to start setting up their camp for the night. With a hand motion to his friend Toothless strolled up so Hiccup could get his tent and cot off the back of his saddle. " Come on bud let's set up camp", Hiccup said walking from to toothless silently to a place flat enough for a fire and tent. Walking silently was like second nature to him. He had lured many things in his time away from Berk, especially from an Elies Roman soldier, Ellies, who was at the time leading a rebellion against the emperor. He taught him how to walk silently, wield a short sword, and some of his men taught him how to farm. They have been friends for many years but he does not know if Ellies is still alive they lost contact about a year before.

When he got to the place where he was gonna set up his tent, Hiccup grabbed a tent rolled around a small cott for sleeping in. The tent was barely big enough to fit Hiccup inside, even though Toothless liked to sleep next to Hiccup, Hiccup liked the small and portable tent and cott during nights that it was going to rain like it was this night. But on most other nights when its was cold and there was a clear sky he would lay down in Toothless's wings and Toothless curled him up to the dragons warm body. When he and Toothless did that it made him feel like he had a home again because in his first year or so away from Berk he had no money no supplies only him and toothless, and only toothless for warmth during the nights.

Setting up camp only took about an hour or so, due to them doing it almost every night for several years, like always Toothless want and got rocks and firewood while Hiccup put up the tent and dug two holes one for the fire pit and one for the bathroom. He would line the fire pit with rocks so that the fire did not escape the hole and lite the brush on fire. before they had landed he had caught a few fish with Toothless so that he didn't have to catch them food after they landed so they could eat in the morning.

By the time they were done setting up it the camp the sky was turning gray and dark not unlike the usual night here on the edge of the barbaric archipelago. This was the first time since the storm he had been out here, this close to the barbaric archipelago, and he was kind of hoping to see the Northern Lights before he went back, back to his old land, to his old seas, to his old home. Seeing the lights always filled him with hope that everything would be alright, even before he shot down Toothless he saw them and thought that the gods were looking at him and telling him to hold strong it's almost over and that day came. It was the day he shot down a Night Fury out of the sky, befriended it, and proceeded to change all of Viking history. He had been so happy to have listened to the the lights like they were messages from one of the gods. the Lights were swirling lines that stretched across the sky in colors of green, red, yellow, blue and many other colors of a vibrant nature.

but now, when he looked at the sky all he saw was grey and black swirling clouds, rain and lighting. The very things that made him who he was and his Dragon who he was.

Never taking his eyes off the sky he asked to no one in particular, "they probably think i'm dead, that i just went out for a late night flight and died in that gods forsaken storm. That i fell off you and drowned in the sea. Never to be seen or heard from again" All he got was a grunt from Toothless. Toothless never actually spoke to him, only a few grunts and shrills but he always knew what the dragon was saying and thinking when the noises were made.

" Out of all our travels, all of our battles i have never been this nervous. It's time for me to go back, I have left no trail for my enemies to follow and only a handful of people know where i come from. I'm still trying to figure out how to come up with a lie that will work. I can't tell them the truth because knowing my dad it would start something that can't be stopped by peaceful means."

A soft bump on his hand brought his mind back to the here and now. Looking down at toothless he smiled then took the dragon's head in his hands, "Thank you my old friend for everything" he then closed his eyes and rested his head on Toothless's and said " it's time my friend. It's time to start a better chapter in our life." he stood like that with toothless passing all his feelings, his doubt, his fear, and his love for his best friend for how long he doesn't know but he was brought out of it by a loud burst of thunder. Looking up at the sky " come on Toothless let's go to bed. With that said he and Toothless strolled over to the tent and curled up inside, Toothless on the ground and Hiccup in the cott.

After a few minutes both of them were asleep unprepared for what the next day would bring them.

-O0O-

 _Hiccup could barely see the bright sun was blocking his view, when he raised a hand he saw where he was. He was standing on a cliff on berk overlooking the pillars of rock that came out of the ocean off the shore. why was he here when did he get here he doesn't remember coming back, then he looked down he was in his 15 year old self's body. " Hi Hiccup" came a soft female voice that he had not heard in years. he turned around to see Astrid standing there looking at him with the softest eyes and the softest most bright smile, like she couldn't see that on the inside he was broken. All he could say back was "h-Hi Astrid". She smiled at him, why would she do that all he said was hi. " why are you way out here Hiccup, you're supposed to be getting ready for you birthday party, it's about to start"_

 _He was confused this didn't happen he never got to celebrate his 16th birthday party it was months away when he left. " this… this isn't right" Astrid looked at him in confusion and with a soft voice said" what's not right Hiccup, you asked for this birthday party it is your coming of age party after all" She thought he was talking about the party " no, not the party, here… now… this. this place…. it never happened"_

 _Suddenly astrid's eyes were locked on his her soft face gone now replaced with a hard one that paralyzed him. "_ _ **Your right this isn't right, this could have happened but you left your home, you left your people, your family, and ME!"**_ _she was pointing at him with one finger. She looked angry, hurt, and in pain. the pain in her eyes brought a dark mist around them both. "_ _ **Why Hiccup. Why did you leave us. Why did you let us think that you were dead instead of sending a message that you were ALIVE"**_ _the black mist started to swirl around them and he could barely breath " i … i had no choice",_ " _ **NO CHOICE… WE COULD HAVE BEEN HAPPY, HAD A FAMILY HICCUP"**_ _he looked at her pleadingly " by the time i figure out where i was it was to late they knew about me". Suddenly a line of all the villagers of berk appeared on both sides of him._ " _ **So you couldn't trust us to help you fight them to get away from them"**_ " _i did what i thought was right" him saying that only seemed to upset her more he could see tears well up in her eyes as the rest of the village just silently watched him_ " _ **No you always wanted to get away from us, From me"**_ _everyone pointed at him and said_ " _ **YOU"**_ _this time it was his father who spoke_ " _**you would have never been able to handle being a chief, doing what's best for everyone not just"**_ _and with a snarl_ " _ **yourself"**_

 _Lightning started flashing behind everyone and they made deafening pounds of thunder on his ears. everyone was still pointing at him but now they started to yell_ " _ **YOU"**_ _he couldn't make out who was saying anything eventually between the pounding thunder and the voices it all became a blear. A large gust of wind dragged him backward, toward the cliffs, one after another he fought against them but it was a losing battle. he looked at Astrid to ask for her help but the words wouldn't come out of his mouth. All she did was look at him with sadness in her eyes._ " _ **goodbye Hiccup"**_ _was all she said before he was swept off the cliff into the wind._

 **(well how did you guys like the newest chapter to Return To One's Home. i put 15 hours into writing it and getting it to feel just right. also how did you guys like the cliff hanger i left you on? be sure to review it and favorite it i love seeing the messages pop up in my email. if you guys want to give me ideas for little interactions between Hiccup and the people of berk that would be greatly appreciated because this is gonna be a 30+ chapter story)**


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